Sunday 22 June 2014

Repetition and Rhyme




This morning in Grange Place poet Lucy Anderson


set the group a writing exercise making use of repetition


 to propel themes or ideas forward.


Everyone shared their writing,
 a really interesting discussion 
of each piece followed.


Some fabulous poems are taking shape.
We can't wait to read them!



We'll be back at the Resource Centre 
again on Friday the 27th.

Free tea and coffee, creativity and conversation.

If you live or work in the Grange 
come on in and join us!
11.00am - 1.00pm

You can let us know if you'll be joining us here

 

Saturday 14 June 2014

Wild Flowers Not Weeds



Sometimes it's hard to distinguish


between wild flowers and weeds


so we thought we'd crochet some extra colour


for a temporary installation 

 

to be wrapped around the planter


in Grange Place.


We talk, exchange experiences


laugh and help each other along.


We think about the threads that 
link all our different lives together.


We make colourful blooms, 
from loops and holes. 
In this lovely community space, 
The Resource Centre 
new friendships blossom.


We'll be back again on Friday the 20th.

Free tea and coffee, creativity and conversation.

If you live or work in the Grange 
come on in and join us!
11.00am - 1.00pm

You can let us know if you'll be joining us here

 

Visible mending On Tour


Fresh from Northumberland via The Shed on the Allotment Carol Parker's mighty Visible Mending Exhibition - with additions from The View From Here group has arrived at The Green Patch in Kettering!


Visible Mending Exhibition
originally shown in THE SHED ON ALLOTMENT 17B  is now on tour!


A self-funded, social media driven project by social artist Carol Parker; connecting communities through the traditional craft of darning and the contemporary craft of visible mending

Contributors so far:

Carol Parker, Lincolnshire

Kay Steven, Northumberland
Lorena Hodgson, Lincolnshire
Fiona Gurney, Lincolnshire
Gillian Wing, Lincolnshire
Suu Wernham, Lincolnshire

Carole Miles, Northants
Anonymous, Yorkshire

Kate Marsden, Surrey

Anna, Sweden

Cassandra Harrison, Berwick on Tweed

Rosie Moore, West Sussex

Jeni Atkinson, Lincolnshire
Jane Pullan, Enid Lechie, Helen Porter 
and Patricia Ward of 
Unique Cottage Studios Textile Group, Lincolnshire
Lucy Anderson, Maureen Walvin, Sonja Wilson, 
Sue Rigby, Jenny - Northamptonshire




All photographs of individual work and tour will be uploaded here: 




If you can't get to the Green Patch here is a glimpse of the exhibition in the Summer House


A lovely place to sit, enjoy the view and all the Visibly Mended postcards on tour so far. 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DARN YOUR OWN POSTCARD TO ADD TO THE EXHIBITION.  DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A MESSAGE ON THE BACK – AFTER ALL THAT’S WHAT POSTCARDS ARE FOR!….


If you'd like to add to the Kettering leg of the tour why not join us at the Resource Centre between 11 and 1 Friday June 20th for coffee and creativity!


Wednesday 11 June 2014

Creating Our Silver Lining


We had another lovely session at the
Resource Centre - this was our view, 


which had inspired a number of new poems. It was great to discover that Lucy Anderson's writing exercises from last week had inspired some of the group to continue writing at home. A silver lining discovered by one participant was that writing was a portable art form, which could be done anywhere in moments between other daily activities. This discovery was exciting and liberating for her and definitely helped to refocus the view. We were asked to write without thinking or censoring ourselves, a free flow exercise which took a few minutes, Lucy then helped us to home in on a central theme, which we started to shape further. There was a round table sharing of the poems so far, which Lucy commented on and gave each participant a series of suggestions for constructive ways forward. It was interesting to learn that sometimes being stuck or writing about being stuck can lead to new thoughts and ideas.



Carole Miles brought in a selection of fabric samples, paints and stencils and invited us to create pieces which will become bunting to help cheer the view. This was a lively activity so in between we stopped for tea and cake!



We'll be meeting again Friday 13th June between 11.00am and 1.00pm so if you live in the Avondale Grange ward or are in the area please come and join us. The sessions are free and all materials are provided. You can let us know if you'll be joining us here



 



Wednesday 4 June 2014

Visibly Mending the View



We have now begun our new pilot project 
The View From Here 


and will be meeting mid-morning on 
Fridays for 6 more weeks.


For our first exploration artist Carole Miles


invited the group to take part in the Visible Mending
touring exhibition by Art on the High Street.


We chose postcards and altered or mended them


thinking and sharing our views and experiences


as we stitched, darned and embellished our postcards.


Poet Lucy Anderson (finally united with her Art on the High Street Flouro Rattus who arrived named Lucy her creators by Carol Parker & Amy Lee)  invited each person to show their mended card and to share the story behind the stitches.


By a process of reduction we were 
led to a starting point for a poem


which we will be continuing to work 
with on Friday 6th June 11 - 1pm. 


Please do join us if
you are in the area.


You can see all of the postcards we mended here , they will be joining the existing cards when the Visible Mending Exhibition comes to the Green Patch on June 14th

You can more about Art On The High Street's Visible Mending here 
and you can see Carole's first card, which is already on tour here

You can let us know if you'll be joining us here

 


Remake Remodel Signage Project For the Green Patch

We have been involved in a lovely making project for Lucy Darby at the Green Patch, a wonderful community allotment in Kettering. Lucy asked Carole Miles if she could design a series of signs to help people navigate their way round the site and to highlight the plants and bees found in the new Bee Garden.


Carole a variety of cut stencils


and we set to work applying them 


to pallets, scrap wood and marine ply.


There is something very satisfying about giving
discarded or unwanted scrap a new purpose!


The stencils were applied with acrylic 
paints and sponge rollers.


Stencils were overlaid


and words applied with either 


paint or indelible marker



Mark edged and varnished them


and we can't wait to see them in their new positions!


and here is a link to a lovely poster showing 
types of plants to encourage different types of bees

This reminded us of a lovely walk through the gardens at Boughton House where we were delighted to see many bees busily investigating the wonderful variety of plants last August. You can see the Flickr set here. Let's all get busy and give the bees a helping hand!